)ULEE • A Poem of 



PS 3503 
.R8395 

1915 ion • David Brown-Lewers 

Copy 1 





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PERRINE COULEE IN WINTER 



COULEE-APoemof 

Vision • David Brown- Lewers 



PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS • SAN FRANCISCO 



COPYRIGHT, I9I5 

BY DAVID BROWN-LEWERS 

SAN FRANCISCO 



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©Ci,A409033 

JUL 31 1915 



Preface 



THIS land of the once sage-brush desert, noiv a veritable 
garden, lies betiveen fwo great ranges of mountains, 
skirted by foothills. A ^^ Coulee*'' is an irregular and 
ivinding stream, coming doivn from the hills, and babbling its 
tuay across the desert in a natural rocky channel, until it reaches 
the rim-rock, ivhere it falls, often se'veral hundred feet, into the 
canyon beloiu, and is lost in the river. Since the ivaters of the 
Snake river have been utilised in this greatest of irrigation proj- 
ects both for agriculture, light and power, until the desert has 
been completely transformed into thriving, happy, and cultured 
communities, the relation betiveen the '^Coulee^^ and the River- 
god, in fulfillment, can at once be understood. The above pic- 
ture represents the^'Perrine Coulee^ ^ in ivinter time. The name 
of^^Perrine*^ must ever be identified ivith the reclamation of this 
desert. He is a dreamsr ivho lived to see his dreams come true. 
The ivhole country oives him a debt that never can be paid. 

This introductory sketch must surely be all that is necessary 
in presenting this poem of *^ vision^ \ There is also a universal 
note for the ^^ hearing ear\ ^^Emisee'^ is the Indian word for 
^■^ Breath' ''—just as beautiful a conception as any in the classics. 
The ^^Foam^'' to the Indian mind was the birthing of Spirits, 
and '''•Name'''' "was significant, as a man'* s Ego, his real self, the 
name-soul, worthy of immortality. 

^^ A grove by a fountain is in all nature-iuorship a ready- 
made shrine of the sylphs ivho live in its limpid waves and chat- 
ter mystenously in its shallows.** — Brinton. 

The ^^ golden urn* has reference to Tellowstone Park. The 
Snake River rises in the extreme southern portion of the Park, 
later on it becomes the Columbia, and so floivs on to the sea. 
From the waiting desert, and the starved coyote* s night-howl in 
the ivaste, to a modern city, a country dotted with happy homes, 
to the sleigh-chime on the clear air — that is an idyl of beauty, a 
tree of real life from a ivonderful acorn of thought. 

John Burroughs has said:— ''''In Idaho lue reach a land pre- 
sided over by the goddess Irrigation. Here she has made the 

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Preface 



desert bloom as the rose.'*'' — — ^^Here may the divellers 
'well say ivith the Psalmist ^ */ ivill lift up mine eyes unto the 
hills, from ivhence cometh my help^^\ {In Green Alaska.) 

And finally as confirmatory of the poetic conception here de- 
veloped, I may be alloived to cite a happy parallel from an ode 
of Pindar (520 B. c). In the luords of F. D. Morice:^The 
river-god, says the poet, builds and blesses the city — 

s 

^^ Hipparis^that waters all thy host with honoured urns^ 
Gathering a stately forest round his banks of storied homes ^ 
Guided of whose grace thy people fast from dearth to glory comesT'* 

David Brown Lewers 



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COULEE • A Poem of Vision 

Sec ! the River-god waits for his bride. Coulee, 

Beneath the bouldered dome. 
In his ice-bound rest, 'neath his canopy- 
A cloud of frozen Foam — 

Soul fire in its crystall'd home. 
To his heart she will leap 

When he wakes from sleep; 
With his arms spread wide 
He will clasp his bride: 
In a mist 'neath her veil 

You will see the Grail: 
You may need God's eyes. 
But He waits and sighs 
In the dome,— 
Coulee ! 

Coulee, silver singing from the hills. 
Thou wanderer untamed in gulches wild. 

Who, from the dancing notes of many rills. 
Hast woven song that long my heart beguil'd, 

1 found thee by the mountains' frozen streams. 

Where furry beasts in winter stealthy walk. 
And leave the footprints of their homeward dreams. 
And mutter to their young in hunger talk: 



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COULEE . A Poem of Vision 

I found thee 'mongst white peaks, 'mongst snow- wrapt 
pine 

Where leafing needles, fragrant, chastely sleep. 
While thro' a myriad steeples. Muses Nine 

Chime softly as the stars night-vigil keep. 

And when great Sun-god rent the shining mist. 
Uprising from his throne of mounded morn. 

The waiting hills were by his glory kiss'd. 
As Emisee soft breathed thro' golden horn. 

Then all the sleeping forms of life, that lay 
Wrapt in their winding sheets of mystery, 

Troop'd forth, clad in the Springtime's colors gay 
And crown' d with garlands sylvan deity. 

There, in an emerald valley 'twixt the hills, 
I saw you in the waters' sapphire pools. 

Where mountain hush their lonely beauty stills. 
And murmuring fountain elfin love-note crools. 

I saw your radiant form, your floating hair, 
I saw you lave your limbs in crystal founts, 

I heard your love-song ravish the pure air. 

And found my thund'ring heart-beat missing counts. 



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COULEE . A Poem of Vision 

I came from out my cave of mosses green. 
And in my reckless madness called to you. 

With pleading, stretched my hands in anguish keen,- 
To find you vanish vs^ith the morning dew. 

Thro' many a w^inding charm, and grottoed nook, 
I traced your flying feet in haunted dells; 

You lured me on by many a babbling brook 
Which oftentimes a maiden's shy love tells. 

And vs^ith my sigh and cry of— * 'Lost forever". 
You sank into the desert brush and stone- 

The wilderness re-echoed-' 'Never", "Never", 
The darkness settled o'er me with a moan. 

And forth I wandered thro' forsaken night. 
Lone wending thro' the waste's monotony; 

I knew not if the stars were shining bright, 
I cared not for their Spirits' Galaxy. 

I groped my saddened way to river's rim. 
And on my soundless couch in river's bed. 

Where waters rock the weary shadows dim. 
In twilight dream of meadows sank my head. 



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COULEE • A Poem of Vision 

Yet since my love was born in golden urn. 
Far up the shining canyon where in foam 

The leaping floods of destiny do burn. 
And rise in silver mists to sapphire dome. 

My Spirit, in pure incense, still must rise. 

Throughout life's winding journey down this stream. 

Which floats like emerald ribbon 'neath the skies- 
The emblem of the spring-tide of my dream. 

And as the fauns and satyrs coyly pass 
Before my closed eyes in eddying dance, 

I dimly guess their presence thro' this glass,— 
My love lies numb'd and frozen in a trance. 

His be the God-like virtue who can wait. 

And hold his passion pure, like rose-lit snow; 

His be the darkened slumber of great fate 

Wherein the diamond star doth burn and glow. 

I shall arise and find thee, lover mine. 

Who wiled my heart by water lutes and trills. 

And wait thee in retreat where fire divine 
Illumes the vestal snow and icicles. 



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COULEE • A Poem of Vision 

And when the sleigh-bells ring in winter glee 
Along the sun-lit roads where deserts lay, 

Or'neath the choiring stars' high harmony. 
Let snowy age exult in youth's long day. 

And feel the deep tho' slumb'ring prison' d fire 

Which, from its winter shroud, will rise in Spring, 

Robed in eternal beauty from desire. 

When fades earth's dream, and when the soul takes 
wing. 

So, my fair Coulee, shall I wait for thee. 

Here 'neath the bouldered dome where echoes roll. 

Until in Spring's cloud- veiling you to me 

Come in your white-armed beauty to my soul. 

Then in dissolving joy of lambent flame 

And prism color lit with Deity, 
We'll make of our two loves one holy Name 

And journey to the sea in unity. 

O Coulee, since you loved and lured me. 

What time you vanisht in the brush and stone. 

And taught me prove my greatness lonesomely. 
And find thy beauty in my spirit grown. 



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COULEE • ^ Poem of Vision 

How smiles the desert, now, thro' labor's tears. 
How blooms its barrenness thro' sacrifice- 

O, we have built our home beyond the years. 
In snowy peaks of everlastingness. 



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i£S!I„°^ CONGRESS 




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